Amazon, Apple, others to testify before U.S. Senate on data privacy September 26

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six major web and internet service companies, including AT&T Inc, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google, will detail their consumer data privacy practices to a U.S. Senate panel on Sept. 26, according to a congressional statement on Wednesday.

The Senate hearing will give the six technology-related companies, which also include Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc and Charter Communications Inc companies “an opportunity to explain their approaches to privacy,” Republican U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune.

They will also testify on “how they plan to address new requirements from the European Union and California, and what Congress can do to promote clear privacy expectations without hurting innovation,” Thune said.

Data privacy has become an increasingly important issue, fueled by massive breaches that have compromised the personal information of millions of U.S. internet and social media users, as well as breaches involving large retailers and credit reporting agency Equifax Inc.

On Tuesday, the Internet Association, which represents more than 40 major internet and technology companies, said on Tuesday it backed modernizing U.S. data privacy rules but wants a national approach that would preempt new regulations in California that take effect in 2020.